An abandoned Lagos community, Orile Iganmu, ravaged by endemic poverty and insecurity, has called on the Lagos State government, donor agencies and Non Governmental Organizations to come to its aid, in addressing the sustained community violence and insecurity occassioned by lack of opportunities and government presence in the area.
Orile Iganmu community, designated as “threat to peace” in Lagos State in PeacePro’s January edition of State of Peace report, lamented government’s absence in the area, noting that almost all available infrastructure in the area were built with community contributions and the most basic need from government, which is security presence, is still not available.
The community leaders and elders made this submission over the weekend, during a peace-building outreach by popular peace-building organization, Foundation for Peace Professional, also known as PeacePro.
The Chairman of the community, Elder Olubunmi Diyaolu, who spoke on behalf of all 12 Community Development Associations (CDAs) chairmen and Secretaries present on the occasion, explained the challenges of the community, particularly poverty and lack of security presence, which had turned the community into a threat to peace in Lagos State.
According to him, “there is no security presence from the government; there’s no good roads or drainage; there’s no healthcare facility and everything on ground is from community efforts and contributions”
In an effort to address the security challenges in the area, a N500 million security trust fund project was initiated, under the chairmanship of High Chief Olabode Simeon Anifaloyin, he said.
High Chief Olabode Simeon Anifaloyin, who gave Insight into the conception of the Orile Iganmu security trust fund explained that the community was determined to protect its environment, create opportunity for its youths and build a more peaceful environment.
He called on government, donor agencies and Non Governmental Organizations to support its initiative.
The Leadership of PeacePro in Lagos State, led by Board of Trustee member, Mr Adedayo Buremoh, Acting Coordinator, Amb. Afodum Charles and Project Director, Hamzat Barshan explained the purpose of PeacePro’s peace-building outreach to the community, noting that the organization was there to understand root causes of crisis in the community and work with them to not only raise awareness on the issues affecting the community, but to also jointly fashion out ways to address the concerns.
Earlier, the Executive Director of PeacePro, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, through a message shared on the organization’s online page said that, the peace-building outreach is to advance PeacePro’s efforts in promoting peace from foundation.
According to him, “identifying the issues as contained in State of Peace report is not enough, as the the organization would be making efforts to bring all Stakeholders together to jointly address security concerns across the country.”
Similarly, KKF Foundation led by Mrs Kirti Sudhanshu was also at the peace-building outreach at Orile Iganmu.
Mrs Kirti, who promised to adopt Orile-Iganmu as her second home, assured the community of the intervention of her Foundation, particularly in the area of Healthcare delivery, Community Empowerment for Youths and Educational support.
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